前副总统乔·拜登的竞选团队启动了一项耗资数百万美元的拉丁裔投票活动，此前最近的民意调查显示该群体的热情相对较低，包括有证据表明他需要大量投资来吸引拉丁裔男性来帮助他获得总统职位。新闻周刊已经学会了。
熟悉该计划的两个消息来源告诉我们新闻周刊拜登竞选团队将在竞选上花费5500万美元，作为包括针对西班牙裔男性的努力的一部分——这是唐纳德·特朗普总统及其盟友在2020年11月选举中已经关注的一个群体。拜登竞选团队的官员证实该项目正在进行中，并没有对项目的规模提出异议，但是拒绝给出具体的数字，因为他们说他们正处于过渡规划阶段。
该计划将重点关注拥有大量拉美裔人口的州，如佛罗里达州、亚利桑那州、科罗拉多州、内华达州和得克萨斯州，以及针对中西部密歇根州、威斯康星州和宾夕法尼亚州较小拉美裔社区的定向投资，特朗普在这些州以微弱优势胜出。
2020年的选举标志着拉美裔首次成为选民中最大的种族或少数民族群体，为他们创造了一个前所未有的影响美国总统选举的机会。对拉美裔选民的分析和民主党团体的宣传往往以拉美裔为目标，因为他们投票率更高，管理家庭，但现在人们越来越认识到，拉美裔男性的希望和恐惧也必须得到考虑。
最近几周，民主党人开始关注加强与拉美裔男性联系的问题。
民主党公司拉丁裔决策(Latino Decisions)最近的一项民意调查显示，拜登对拉丁裔男性的支持率为50%，而特朗普的支持率为34%。这个数字低于2012年巴拉克·奥巴马获得的西班牙裔男性65%的支持率和2016年希拉里·克林顿获得的63%的支持率。由奥巴马校友斯蒂芬妮·巴伦西亚和卡洛斯·奥迪奥发起的团体“平等研究”的额外调查更好地说明了这一趋势。根据2019年7月至2019年12月对9个战场州的21，370名拉丁裔选民的采访，Equis发现，尽管拉丁裔选民对民主党的支持持续上升，但拉丁裔选民对特朗普的支持在他的总统任期内一直保持不变，为32%，与2016年选举时相同。
例如，47岁的杰森·鲁宾斯坦(Jason Rubinstein)是佛罗里达州坦帕的一名厄瓜多尔裔美国人，他在一家大银行担任高级投资组合经理，他说拜登不是他的首选，但他支持他胜过特朗普，因为总统利用“仇恨来分裂国家，贬低少数民族和妇女”由于这些强烈的感觉，他说他希望拜登在竞选团队付费向更多人推广的脸书帖子中更有力地打击特朗普。
“他们没有像他们应该的那样具有对抗性，尤其是在处理流行病的时候，”他说新闻周刊。“我们需要开始看到更多他支持什么和反对什么。我认为社区需要开始认识到这一点。”
墨西哥裔美国人、33岁的得克萨斯州麦卡伦市人力资源总监若阿希姆·埃尔南德斯(Joacim Hernandez)表示，他在2016年支持特朗普，现在仍然支持他，因为拜登“没有提供真正的解决方案”
“我相信总统，他为经济所做的一切，以及他在头三年所做的伟大工作，”赫尔南德斯告诉记者新闻周刊。
特朗普阵营及其盟友也认识到拉丁裔社区中存在的机会。美国第一包装告诉新闻周刊在特朗普担任总统期间，他们从未真正吸引过有色人种女性，包括拉丁裔和黑人女性，但他们“非常”关注佛罗里达、佐治亚和北卡罗来纳等关键州的西班牙裔男性。美国第一发言人史蒂夫·科尔特斯说:“这些基本上都是红色州或偏红州。”新闻周刊。"如果我们能逐步淘汰西班牙裔男性，那就足够了。"
“特朗普竞选团队每花1美元，我就要花5美元让你相信，你听到的关于拜登的消息不是真的，他也不是坏人，”拉斯维加斯民主党策略师安德烈斯·拉米雷斯告诉记者新闻周刊。“共和党人知道，他们只需污染水源几个百分点，就能迫使我们花钱来消除污染。”
但这不仅仅是外部团体。特朗普竞选团队告诉我们新闻周刊其拉丁裔支持特朗普的活动活跃在20个州，即将举行的活动包括周二晚上与金佰利·吉尔福耶的五月五日网上聊天，以及5月7日包括前新墨西哥州副州长约翰·桑切斯在内的拉丁裔支持特朗普西南呼吁。
随着大选的升温，乔·拜登和唐纳德·特朗普都将接触拉丁裔选民。
包括国会拉美裔核心小组成员在内的一些民主党人私下向竞选团队和他们自己表达了他们对拜登的拉美裔宣传状况的担忧，他们不知道即将到来的拉美裔投票计划的细节。该竞选团队在构建该项目时，还寻求了民主党竞选老手的意见，他们在接触拉美裔方面表现出了成功，比如艾米·鲁伊斯(Emmy Ruiz)，她曾在2012年领导奥巴马在内华达州的努力，以及克林顿在2016年内华达州和科罗拉多州的初选中获胜。
詹姆斯·奥尔德雷特是德克萨斯州的一名长期政治顾问，他为奥巴马和克林顿竞选团队的拉丁美洲人做媒体和信息工作新闻周刊民主党人知道如何接触拉美人:医疗保健信息，包括谈论生殖权利、带薪探亲假和儿童保育，是有效的。但他认为，当涉及到拉美裔男性时，同样有效的信息是缺乏的——也是需要的——他们对工作保障和工资的焦虑只会因当前的危机而加剧，政府数据和最近的民意调查显示，拉美裔社区在感染和财务方面受到了不成比例的影响。
对民主党人来说，这意味着反复强调特朗普对危机的处理危及了经济，并使许多拉美人已经不稳定的工作和工资更加不稳定。
劳拉·希门尼斯是拜登竞选团队的拉丁裔参与总监，她告诉记者新闻周刊她同意，围绕经济机会和工作的信息对于接触拉丁裔男性很重要，并指出她所认识的所有西班牙裔人的直系亲属中都有人创办了一家微型企业或经营一家小企业。
周一，拜登参加了拉丁美洲公民联合联盟(LULAC)在Zoom举行的市政厅会议，与会者包括德克萨斯州和加利福尼亚州的众议员华金·卡斯特罗(Joaquin Castro)和佐伊·洛夫格伦(Zoe Lofgren)，以及两个都感染了冠状病毒的肉类加工工人的儿子。至少在那种情况下，拜登确实谈到了工作和工资，重申了他对参议院民主党英雄基金计划的支持，该计划要求向包括肉类加工者在内的基本工人每小时额外支付13美元，他说这些人是受此次危机影响最大的拉美人之一，许多人更担心他们可能被驱逐出境。
虽然竞选团队强调拉丁裔的外联活动对他们来说并不新鲜，并指出他们自己和外部团体拉丁裔胜利基金(Latino Victory Fund)共同完成的Todos con Biden活动，但竞选团队注入的资源也将侧重于在他们喜欢的平台上向社区传达新的信息，包括西班牙语电视和数字巨头Facebook、YouTube和Pandora，这些平台允许竞选团队根据年龄、主要语言和地理位置对社区进行微定位。
前拜登高级助手瓦内萨·卡德尼亚斯在初选期间因有报道称她对拉美裔的努力方向不满意而退出竞选。她说，她同意民主党人在谈论生计问题时更关注女性，但在拉美裔男性和经济信息方面，她说，“多赚一美元却无法获得医疗保健不会有帮助。”
她告诉我新闻周刊拉丁裔男性比女性更远离政治，她说她是一个创造不同信息的狂热爱好者，这些信息可以传达给不同的目标受众，在这个例子中是拉丁裔选民，但是她还没有看到一个有凝聚力的策略出现。
卡德尼亚斯说，她仍在与竞选团队对话，并对即将到来的拉丁裔投票项目感到振奋，但她强调了做好这件事的紧迫性。
“为了我们的集体利益，拜登需要当选，但他们需要迅速采取行动。这就是我一直告诉他们的，”她说。
JOE BIDEN TO LAUNCH $55 MILLION LATINO VOTE CAMPAIGN AS FIGHT WITH DONALD TRUMP TO WIN OVER HISPANIC MEN HEATS UP
Former Vice President Joe Biden's campaign is launching a multimillion-dollar Latino vote campaign after recent polling showed lagging enthusiasm among the group, including evidence that he needed to invest heavily to attract Latino men to help him secure the presidency, Newsweek has learned.
Two sources familiar with the initiative told Newsweek the Biden campaign will spend $55 million on the campaign as part of an effort that includes targeting Hispanic men—a group President Donald Trump's and his allies are already focusing on for the November 2020 election. Biden campaign officials confirmed the program is in the works and did not dispute the size of the program, but declined to give specific numbers because they said they are in a transitional planning period.
The plan will focus on states with large Latino populations such as Florida, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, and Texas, as well as targeted investments aimed at smaller Latino communities in the midwest states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, where Trump won by razor-thin margins.
The 2020 election marks the first time Latinos are the largest racial or ethnic minority group in the electorate, creating an opportunity for them to influence the nation's presidential election than ever before. Analysis of Hispanic voters and outreach from Democratic groups has often targeted Latinas because they vote at higher rates and run the household, but there is now growing acknowledgment that the hopes and fears of Hispanic men must be considered, as well.
The issue of stronger outreach to Latino men has come into focus for Democrats in recent weeks.
A recent poll from Democratic firm Latino Decisions showed that Biden's support with Latino men was 50 percent, compared with 34 percent for Trump. That number falls short of the 65 percent support Barack Obama received from Hispanic men in 2012 and the 63 percent Hillary Clinton received in 2016. Additional polling by Equis Research, a group started by Obama alumni Stephanie Valencia and Carlos Odio, put a finer point on the trend. According to interviews with 21,370 Latino voters in nine battleground states from July 2019 to December 2019, Equis found that while Latina support continued to tick up for Democrats, the support from Latino men for Trump has remained consistent throughout his presidency, sitting at 32 percent, the same it was in the 2016 election.
For example, Jason Rubinstein, 47, an Ecuadorian-American in Tampa, Florida, who works as a senior portfolio manager for a major bank, said Biden wasn't his first choice but he supports him over Trump because the president uses "hatred to divide the country and belittles minorities and women." Because of those strong feelings, he said he wishes Biden hit Trump harder in the Facebook posts the campaign pays to promote to more people.
"They are not as confrontational as they should be, especially with the handling of the pandemic," he told Newsweek. "We need to start seeing more of what he is for and what he's against. I think the community needs to start seeing that."
And Joacim Hernandez, a 33-year-old director of human resources in McAllen, Texas, who is Mexican-American, said he supported Trump in 2016 and still does now because Biden offers "no real solutions."
"I believe in the president, what he did for economy, and the great job he did in his first three years," Hernandez told Newsweek.
The Trump campaign and its allies recognize where the opportunity exists within the Latino community, as well. America First PAC told Newsweek they never really got traction during Trump's presidency with women of color, including Latinas and black women, but they are "very much" focused on Hispanic men in key states like Florida, Georgia and North Carolina. "These are basically red states or leaning-red," America First spokesman Steve Cortes told Newsweek. "If we can chip away at Hispanic men that might be enough."
"For every $1 the Trump campaign spends, I have to spend $5 convincing you that what you heard about Biden isn't true and he's not a bad guy," Las Vegas Democratic strategist Andres Ramirez told Newsweek. "Republicans know that they just have to taint the water a few percentage points to force us to spend money to undo that."
But it's not just outside groups. The Trump campaign told Newsweek its Latinos for Trump effort is active in 20 states and upcoming events include a Cinco de Mayo online chat Tuesday night with Kimberly Guilfoyle and a Latinos for Trump Southwest Call including former New Mexico lieutenant governor John Sanchez on May 7.
Joe Biden and Donald Trump will both be reaching out to Latino voters as the general election gains steam.
Some Democrats, including members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, have privately shared their concerns about the state of the Biden's Latino outreach with the campaign and among themselves, unaware of the details of the coming Latino vote program. The campaign has also sought input as it builds out the program from Democratic campaign veterans with demonstrated success in reaching Latinos, such as Emmy Ruiz, who led Obama's Nevada effort in 2012 and Clinton's 2016 primary wins in Nevada and Colorado.
James Aldrete, a longtime political consultant from Texas who worked on media and messaging to Latinos for the Obama and Clinton campaigns, told Newsweek Democrats know how to reach Latinas: A health care message, including talking about reproductive rights, paid family leave, and childcare, are effective. But a similarly effective message is lacking—and needed—he argued, when it comes to Latino men whose anxieties around job security and wages have only been exacerbated by the current crisis, one that government data and recent polling shows is disproportionately affecting the Hispanic community both in terms of infections, as well as financially.
For Democrats, that means hammering home the message that Trump's handling of the crisis has imperiled the economy and made already shaky jobs and wages even less secure for many Latinos.
Laura Jimenez, who serves as the Biden campaign Latino engagement director, told Newsweek she agrees that a message around economic opportunity and jobs is important to reach Latino men, and noted that all the Hispanics she knows have someone in their immediate family who started a micro-business or runs a small business.
On Monday, Biden took part in a town hall on Zoom with the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), which featured Representatives Joaquin Castro and Zoe Lofgren of Texas and California, as well as the son of two meatpacking workers who both were infected with the coronavirus. In that setting, at least, Biden did talk jobs and wages, reiterating his support for the Senate Democrats Heroes Fund plan, which calls for an additional $13 an hour to be paid to essential workers, including meatpackers, who he said are among those Latinos disproportionately affected by this crisis, with many having the added fear they could be deported.
While the campaign stresses Latino outreach isn't new for them, pointing to Todos con Biden events they've done on their own and in conjunction with outside group Latino Victory Fund, the campaign's injection of resources will also focus on getting that new message to the community on the platforms they enjoy, including Spanish-language television and digital giants like Facebook, YouTube and Pandora, which permit campaigns to micro-target a community according to age, primary language, and geography.
Vanessa Cardenas, a former senior Biden aide who left the campaign during the primary over reports that she was unhappy with the direction of Latino efforts, said she agreed that when Democrats talk about bread-and-butter issues they are more focused on women, but in regards to Latino men and an economic message, she said, "making a dollar more but not being able to access health care isn't going to help."
She told Newsweek that Latino men are more disconnected from politics than women and said she's a big fan of creating varied messages that speak to different segments of the target audience, in this case, Latino voters, but she has yet to see a cohesive strategy emerge.
Cardenas said she still talks to the campaign and is heartened by the coming Latino vote program, but stressed the urgency of getting it right.
"For our collective benefit, Biden needs to get elected, but they need to move it and quickly. That's what I tell them all the time," she said.
